Carl and the Encyclopedia
by N3v3rm0r311949
Summary: Carl tries to explain various objects from pre-apoctalyptic world to his little sister.
1. The Encyclopedia

If Carl could have anything from his life before, at that moment, it would be an encyclopedia. Hell, he wasn't even that picky. A dictionary would work too. The words were tangled in his mouth as he tried to figure out how to tell his little sister about airplanes, boats, and whatever else someone brought up in a conversation that Judith was unfamiliar with. Rick and the other men of the now expanding refuge had decided to appoint Carl to teach the girl some basic schooling, despite the fact that the everyone in the camp had at least four years on the teen.

The settlement had its first setback when what seemed like an evolved strain of swine flu swept through the camp, catching everyone off guard, and taking the school teacher Miss Collins with it. After that, all the children just tried to get reading, writing, and a bit of arithmetic down, before finding ways to contribute to the colony.

At first it was Rick who tried to teach Judith, however, with him busy trying to run the refuge, things didn't go too smoothly. He got her to learn the alphabet alright, and her reading wasn't too bad either, but when he tried to get her to write, it became apparent that it would involve more time effort than Rick could provide. Rick had instructed his daughter to try and sound out the words the way they sounded to her, and write them down, to make a list of all the words she knew. The top half of the page contained the words "ah, yall, and et." So it had been decided that the person who had his schooling most recently would teach the girl properly, and since Carl's accent was the least apparent of the older children, from after lunch to mid-afternoon Carl felt like he'd rather be shot again than go through it.

It's not that Judith wasn't a smart kid. Actually, it was kind of the opposite, she was really clever, and it made her really unhappy when she didn't know something. And that was how Carl and Judith ended up in their current situation. After learning about surfing, global warming, and the news, Carl had accidentally mentioned the Internet. The dreaded question came up. "Carl, what's that?"

"What do you mean Jude?" Carl was doomed.

"You know, the Inter-thing." Okay he had one chance. If he could just sidestep the question, and get out of there, he was on watch with Beth.

"You could use it to look up stuff." That was a close one.

"Is it a book?" Shit.

Three hours. It took three more hours for Rick to finally come check on his children. He then decided Carl could make up his missed duty with Daryl. Normally, Daryl was pretty awesome. On watch duty, he was infamous for his no talking, no distractions policy. On his way to the watch tower, he saw Beth holding hands with the new guy. Who had hiked all the way from California on the rumor that the East was Walker-free. Evil Sister: 1. Carl: 0. There were people from all over the Southeast, and not one had an encyclopedia. This was not over. Carl would figure out how to get his sister to stop asking questions. Hopefully before he died of boredom.

* * *

I'm not sure if I should leave this as a oneshot or continue with it, so please review and tell me your opinion. I'm open either way. I'm having some trouble formatting it, so if you spot a problem I missed, or have comments/criticism, tell me so I can fix it for others.

Thanks for taking the time to look at this. Much obliged!


	2. The Poor Hungry Wolf

In some ways, Judith reminded Carl of Sophia. It had been a long time since he had seen her face, and the last time it was twisted into something that was not her, but he still remembered her. He remembered how he earned her trust and friendship and although they played with Eliza and Louis, him and Sophia were something special. After a while, Sophia, far away from the eyes of her father, wasn't afraid to tell Carl when he was talking bullshit. Yeah, Sophia and Judith would have gotten along just fine.

At that moment, Carl saw what all the other men in camp had said at one time or another, women were crazy. Especially when their little. Judith was ranting about how it was stupid that the wolf would be talking to a little girl. Of course Judith wouldn't like fairytales. Because that made so much sense, a little girl who doesn't like Little Red Riding Hood.

"Carl!'

"Yeah"

"Are you listening?"

"No" That was apparently _not _the answer Judith was looking for. How surprising.

"Carl..." The words were drawn out into a whine, "The girl's being dumb. The wolf is just hungry." It was his own fault, really. After remembering something Miss Mueller, Judith's namesake, had said he asked his father to pick up a fairytale book from the old library that the original occupants of the Refuge had cleared out. Maybe he could teach her about morals and shit. Yeah right.

"Jude your missing the point."

"Woodcutters are murderers."

"No, don't talk to strangers!" What had Carl done wrong to deserve this.

"That doesn't make any sense." Okay, no more books for a while.

"The person who wrote it said so!" So, maybe that was a lie, but hey, when you're being mauled by logic, you'll say anything to be right.

"Nuh-uh"

"Yeah"

"Meany!"

"Brat!" Carl didn't want to even think about Judith's teenage years. Oh god. Maybe he'd get lucky and be turned before then.

Rick was worried. It was a bit of a blur, but he could remember Lori reading a million and one child development books and parental psychology shit. He was pretty sure that, during one of their discussions on the possibility of another child, she had said at one point that them trying to kill each other was a bad thing. After Jude's latest lesson Carl looked like he was about ready to cry. Rick felt himself starting to pity his son; he had felt his daughter's wrath before himself. If he didn't know Lori would turn over in her grave, he'd probably get his son a beer for his troubles. Thinking about it though, there was probably something Carl would prefer over alcohol. Rick hoped he wouldn't regret this.

"Judith Grimes put that down right now!" Carl was in hell. At least it felt like it. It was over ninety degrees and his little sister was trying to murder him. With a spoon."

"Put the worksheet down."

"Judith, a spoon is not going to hurt me." Where did she get that anyway?

All of a sudden the tent flap was pulled back.

"Carl can I have a word with you." Yes! Freedom.

"Dad, you do know I'm never going back in there again."

"I've been thinking about what you've said before, and I asked Beth if she would help you with Judith." Wait, what?

"And she agreed." Yes! Awesome happy dancing yes!

"Oh, okay." Nice one Carl, play it cool.

Judith:1 Carl:1

This was going to be awesome.

* * *

The response I've gotten to this has been amazing, so I've decided to continue. Thanks to everyone who's read, and especially those who reviewed as well.


End file.
